Video games are having a meta moment, and I love it

By Tomas Franzese Published September 18, 2024

Video games are having a meta moment. New games aren’t just occasionally breaking the fourth wall, but directly acknowledging the influential titles that have come before them. In September alone, Astro Bot, The Plucky Squire, and UFO 50 all showcased what seems to be a unifying moment for the video game industry.. All three of those titles are fantastic in their own right, but each is also a love letter to the video game industry’s history in their own way.

To some extent, video games have always tried to replicate what was popular at the time. This moment shows that video games are no longer just chasing trends, though; they’re actively in conversation with those trends. That can be done through cameos, gameplay references, or by embracing the same game design constraints that birthed the medium’s most foundational titles. It’s a new kind of self-referential moment for video games — and I love it.

Astro Bot is the most straightforward kind of referential celebration. It’s meta in the sense that players are collecting parts of a PlayStation 5 and saving VIP Bots that are dressed like PlayStation characters from the brand’s history. It’s not just calling out the big names like God of War either; it features deeper cuts like Alundra and Motor Toon Grand Prix. This not only makes Astro Bot a great way to celebrate the PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, but it also feels like a real acknowledgment from developer Team Asobi that these games truly made PlayStation what it is today. Astro Bot owes a lot to platforming classics, so it’s gratifying to see franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, and Sly Cooper represented here.

There’s a sadder read of that, too. Some have expressed that Astro Bot can feel like a graveyard for dormant franchises, but I feel a bit more optimistic about it. Astro Bot exists today because of the PlayStation series that came before it, and Team Asobi pays tribute to that fact in a way that suits its original series at this moment.

I imagine that Astro Bot was an IP licensing nightmare for Sony, but this month has also proven that there are ample ways for video games to be meta without directly referencing specific games. The Plucky Squire, from All Possible Futures and Devolver Digital, is a prime example of that. It’s a game all about celebrating creativity and the art that inspires people, and that’s reflected in its design. Almost every kind of gameplay featured within The Plucky Squire lovingly pulls from something else.

The meat of its storybook exploration is modeled after The Legend of Zelda, while other minigames players encounter call back to Punch-Out!, Rhythm Heaven, Fantasy Zone, Crypt of the Necrodancer, and more. Although this could’ve come off as gimmicky, within the wider context of The Plucky Squire, this variety feels reflective. It’s like the developers are in direct conversation with the video games that inspired them.

UFO 50 takes that idea to its logical extreme as a collection of 50 games designed to look like they were developed in the 1980s. From the color palette to the presentation, all of the games featured in Mossmouth’s latest feel like they could have been released during the 8-bit era. UFO 50 is undeniable evidence that, right now, games aren’t afraid to directly acknowledge what came before while still looking to the future.

Games like Astro Bot, The Plucky Squire, and UFO 50 demonstrate how the video game industry is at a state of maturity. Developers can look back and celebrate past series, pull gameplay elements from the classics that influence us, or create a collection of games rooted in an older era of game design philosophy. The novelty of all of that might wear off at some point, but for now, I love that video games are embracing the history of the medium and acknowledging the foundation that propped this whole industry up.